Neighbors, Friends React to Death of Las Vegas Cab Driver, a Michigan Native

By Anthony Sabella&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Fri 11:26 PM, Feb 22, 2013

Gale Benjamin is still in shock after hearing about the death of Michael Bolden, the man he calls his best friend.

"Just an outgoing, very big-hearted person. He really cared about others," Benjamin said.

Thursday morning, the 62-year-old Bolden was driving a taxi on the Las Vegas Strip, when he was struck by a Maserati that had been shot at. The fiery crash killed both drivers, along with a passenger in Bolden's cab.

Two years ago, Bolden moved to Las Vegas from Lansing to help take care of his mother and drove a taxi to support his family.

"I guarantee that our lives will be forever changed by this tragic event," said Bolden's brother Tehran Bolden.

The Bolden family's pain is also felt by his friends and former neighbors in Lansing.

"I had just spoken to him two days prior," said Benjamin, who first met Bolden in 2000, when he hired him as a Sales Associate at Story car dealership in Lansing. "He always worked hard and was a people person."

Bolden took those qualities to his home on Lansing's Rundle Ave., where he lived with his long-time girlfriend for several years.

"Always ready to help people," said Greg Hines, Bolden's former neighbor. "If they needed help, he was there. Just a good person all around."

Corie McGinley, another neighbor, says Bolden was always friendly with her kids.

"He'd be out here building snow forts with them and doing all the things an adoptive grandpa does," she said.

However, behind the happy memories, the sadness is apparent.

"He was a guy that made a difference and I was proud to know him," said Carol Crostin, who lived two doors down from Bolden.

Bolden's family is still looking for answers to his death, as the people who initially shot the Maserati haven't been found by Las Vegas Police.

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